A combined investment of €3 million (approximately $3 million) in the Convergent Quantum Research Alliance in Telecommunications (CoQREATE) was announced on July 25, 2022, to investigate technologies forming the foundations of a quantum internet. The program is co-funded by the US National Science Foundation, Science Foundation Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy, according to Science Foundation Ireland.
CoQREATE spans four large research centers: the NSF Center for Quantum Networks at the University of Arizona, the CONNECT SFI Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin, the IPIC SFI Photonics Centre, and the Quantum Technology group at Queen’s University Belfast. The investment will fund at least ten research positions.
Dr. Ciarán Seoighe, Deputy Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, said the work addresses key questions in telecommunication systems and the integration of network technologies. Prof. Dan Kilper, Director of CONNECT, said the project enables researchers to shape how quantum and classical networks will come together.